Apple seeds Safari 1.3 Developer Preview 5 for Panther

Although Apple Computer is rapidly developing Safari 2.0 for inclusion in its next-generation Tiger operating system, the company is continuing with efforts to stabilize and improve a version of the Web browser for its current Panther operating system.

According to sources, Apple this week released Safari 1.3 Developer Preview 5 to its Apple Developer Connection (ADC) members. The first developer preview of the browser--Safari 1.3 build 148--was offered to ADC members in June, though successive seeds were made available only to employees and AppleSeed members.

Unlike the current version of Safari, which is based on Panther\'s underlying WebKit foundation, Safari 1.3 contains the same Web Kit functionality and site compatibility support delivered in Safari 2.0 for Mac OS X Tiger, sans the added user features.

Safari 1.3 also features new \"JavaScriptGlue\" framework code, a new JavaScript console window, and an updated developer Safari \"Debug\" menu that includes new options to toggle Safari\'s window transparency, shadow display, and background rendering.

However, sources say the \"Web Archive\" feature that appeared in the first developer preview of the browser has since been removed from the most recent release.

Both Safari 1.3 and Safari 2.0 are at build 168 in their respective development cycles.